This is not the house that was wired to blow, although that home may indeed have its price reduced now. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

(Newser)
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There are bad tenants, there are nightmare tenants, and then there are the people who rented a Boston-area house and are suspected of leaving it wired to explode after they moved out. The chief of police in Milton, Mass., says an explosive device designed to cause "significant destruction" was hidden inside the home and would have gone off if a certain light switch had been flipped, NBC News reports. The chief says the bomb squad spent several hours disabling the device, which was spotted by an electrician conducting a pre-sale inspection yesterday. The tenants—who are also suspected of pouring concrete down the drains—moved out last weekend, and the homeowner tells CBS Boston he believes they're responsible for the device.

Whoever the culprits are, they put a lot of work into the device, which was found concealed behind a newly plastered section of closet wall: Police say it was wired through several rooms, with a plastic jug of accelerant set to explode when the switch was flipped, the Boston Globe reports. "The switch sets off a spark and the gas explodes. Whoever flipped the switch, once the power was back on, would have no idea they were doing it. It took a lot of planning," the police chief tells the Patriot Ledger, explaining that since the house was up for sale and hadn't passed inspection, the power was off when the device was spotted. (Something else designed to explode: the first copy of James Patterson's new book.)

I've seen the archetype way too many times. This was surely people in the Bumpass family line. I would not be surprised at all to learn they are DUI defense attorneys. They are all of that kind of character.